Winds of Change: The Environmental Movement and the Global Development of the Wind Energy Industry - Hardcover

Vasi, Ion Bogdan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199746923 ISBN 13: 9780199746927

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2011

Synopsis

In recent decades the global wind energy industry has undergone explosive growth, and there is still vast potential for wind to supply more of the world's energy. Though not only is wind power far from reaching its potential, its rise has been uneven and irregular. What factors influence the development of the wind energy industry, and why has it developed successfully in some places but not in others?

In Winds of Change, Ion Bogdan Vasi argues that the development of wind energy is dependent not only on improvements in technology and economic forces, but also in large part on the efforts of the environmental movement. Vasi defines and analyses three pathways through which the environmental movement has contributed to industry growth: it has influenced the adoption and implementation of renewable energy policies, created consumer demand for clean energy, and changed the institutional logics of the energy sector. Vasi uses quantitative analysis to present the big picture of global wind power development, and qualitative research to understand why certain countries are world leaders in wind energy while others are relatively underdeveloped. Through interviews with renewable energy professionals and campaigners, he shows that environmental groups and activists participated actively in energy policymaking, pressured various organizations to purchase wind power, and formed new companies that specialized in wind-farm development. He also demonstrates that environmentalists contributed to wind turbine manufacturing by becoming entrepreneurs, innovators, and advocates.

Winds of Change sheds much new light on how wind energy is adopted and why, and demonstrates how activists and social movements can contribute to the creation of new industries.

About this title

About the Author

Ion Bogdan Vasi is Assistant Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs and the Department of Sociology at Columbia University.

Review

"A wide ranging, richly informative, and engaging account of the global emergence of a new industry." --Hayagreeva Rao, Atholl McBean Professor Of Organizational Behavior, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University

"Why does wind power stand out as one of the splashiest success stories in renewable energy but is so unevenly distributed across the globe? This imaginative yet systematic study shows that neither technology nor economic need are sufficient to turn wind potential into wind power. Vasi shows that it takes a combination of dedicated political elites, social movement activism, and positive political opportunities to produce 'winds of change." --Sidney Tarrow, Maxwell Upson Professor of Government and Sociology, Cornell University

"This splendid book rescues social movements from the margins of politics and places them at the centre of economic transformation. Through a cross-nationally comparative exploration of the development and adoption of wind energy, Ion Vasi demonstrates how environmental movements have shaped energy policy, created consumer demand, and helped to transform the energy industry nationally and internationally. This is then both an exemplary study of the ways in which environmental campaigners have changed the shape and context of energy supply and a practical demonstration of how and why social movements matter." --Christopher Rootes, Professor of Environmental Politics and Political Sociology, University of Kent

"In my view, and to my surprise, Vasi's answers are clear and convincing. He shows how the environmental movement has indeed been an important driver market of formation and industrial growth in the wind energy sector, working through various industry and policy channels. ... Vasi's book is very well-suited to become core reading in courses in environmental innovation." --Contemporary Sociology

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0199746923
• ISBN 13: 9780199746927
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264